Monday, December 15, 2008

Famous Rob's Review of the Year - Part One

Worst TV Ads of 2008

Winner: Renault - Remember When

Not only did this ad fail to make me notice how nice the new Megane is, it put a huge doubt in my mind about the entire brand. "Remember when you said you'd never buy a Renault?" ... No. I didn't, but now i'm not sure where that came from... who said it? Why wouldn't they buy one?

It's also a bit patronising and a little bit insulting about how we live our lives. But this gets the award for singlehandedly scaring me away from a brand. Quite a remarkable achievment for an I've only seen three times.

Runners Up: DFS - Rockstar

Patronising, irritating, cringeworthy, throw your sofa at the TV to make it go away annoying.If it hadn't been so good at catching the bland AOR rock shitegeist it would have won...

By the way, actual quote from the band: "You know you've made it when your song's in a fucking sofa commercial" ... Not a DFS sofa commercial mate.

Runners Up: Iceland - Cold Outside

Wow. This is bad, so bad it goes beyond being 'so bad its good' and into 'so bad its horrific'.Only saved from worst ad of the year because it at least attempts to play it silly, and without Kerry in it might have worked. Jason and the Nolan aren't that bad, but Kerry just proves that she can't cut it with acting or singing showstyle.

Runners Up: Gillette - Tiger Thierry Tennis Bloke

2 ads for the proce of one.

A cheesy sports montage followed by a crushing barrage of unhindered sales pitch, beating you over and over the head with its desperate pleading for you to buy a more profitable a better razor than the Gillette one you have strong brand loyalty with already.

Three expensive sportsmen joining in the fun makes it even more of an assault on the eyes and ears.

Saved from winning for two reasons: 1. They are still better than the 'dad razor for xmas' ad from a year or two ago. 2. Thierry Henry is a footballing legend and I'd hate him to win worst anything.

Perhaps ironically, Thierry was spokesperson for the last great Renault ad. The man has va va voom. Maybe the two could get back together and save themselves from ad hell...

"Remember when we made that awful car?" and "Remember when we made that really awful advert to go with that awful car" and "Remember when we wasted an awful lot of money paying for that ad to be seen, but never watched, by millions of people?"